Public defender supplemental sent back to committee

A controversial proposal to cover a budget shortfall in the San Francisco public defender’s office is taking a step backward.

Supervisors voted to return the $657,000 supplemental to committee Tuesday, after it apparently lacked the two-thirds majority it needed to pass.

The Budget and Finance Committee approved the supplemental in a contentious 3-2 vote last week, with dissenting supervisors Mark Farrell and Scott Wiener blasting Public Defender Jeff Adachi for threatening to refuse cases without the supplemental and making hires that were not budgeted. Adachi said he would not risk providing clients with substandard representation and said he needed to pay existing staff.

“I think it’s the right thing to do,” said Wiener about taking more time to negotiate with the public defender over the supplemental. “Right now I”m highly doubtful that there’s anything close to the eight votes needed to approve the supplemental today.”

Supervisor David Campos, who sponsored the effort to cover the shortfall, said he was confident that a deal could be reached.

“The reality of this item is that at some point the city will be liable for an expenditure here, it’s a question of when we do it and the best way to do it,” he said.